Video: Will this be reunion day for dad and son?

Closed captioning of: Will this be reunion day for dad and son?

>>>now, what could be decision day for new jersey
father davidgoldman
. his lawyers have been summoned into brazilian court and a final ruling on whether he can take his son home could be moments away. we will talk to him in a moment, but first, nbc's
jeff rossen
is in
rio de janeiro
with the latest details. jeff, good morning.

>>reporter: hi,
meredith
, good morning to you. we begin with breaking news in this case. according to local media reports, here in
rio de janeiro
,
brazil
, just out this morning --
sean
's brazilian family, the family that is holding him here in
rio
now says they want to strike a deal with
davidgoldman
. they say they will hand
sean
over to
davidgoldman
for a return to the u.s. under one condition, and it's a pretty big condition. they want
sean
's brazilian grandmother, his maternal grandmother, to get on the plane and fly back to the u.s. with
sean
. once again, this is a breaking development just out this morning. still no reaction from
davidgoldman
or his lawyers. and this comes along with other news this morning. the
supreme court
,
meredith
, was supposed to reach a decision yesterday. that's what they promised. late last night they said they needed more time, and now they say today is decision day.
davidgoldman
strategized
behind closed doors
monday, and "dateline" was inside his
riohotel room
as he waited for the call.

>>hello?

>>reporter: meeting with congressman
chris smith
,
u.s. embassy
officials and his brazilian lawyers. but the call to pick up his 9-year-old son
sean
never came. in fact, there was no ruling at all. by late last night,
david
seemed exhausted. what do you make of this delay?

>>been doing this for 5 1/2 yea years, more than a dozen times, every time to come down and bring him home.
par for the course
. if you want to put aside all of it, it's about a father and a son and their rights to be together, and this is just such a mess.

>>it's time to stop playing games, take the gloves off and start being serious about this.

>>reporter: you want to put sanctions on
brazil
for this?

>>yes.

>>reporter: in
2004
,
david
's wife took
sean
to her native
brazil
and never came back. she divorced
david
, got remarried, got pregnant and then died during childbirth.
davidgoldman
is
sean
's only living parent, but the brazilian family, including the new husband, is fighting to keep
sean
in
brazil
. their lawyer claims
sean
wants to stay.

>>everybody's suffering, and especially the boy. so, this is something that has to be to come to an end.

>>he has been held here unlawfully. he's been retained illegally. his habitual residence is new jersey, not
brazil
, new jersey. *

>>reporter: in this
home video
, you can see
rio
was once a place
david
and
sean
enjoyed together. more than five years later,
father and son
are back in
brazil
, apart and
still waiting
. right now, lawyers for both sides are showing up at
brazil's supreme court
waiting for that decision. we're told it could come,
meredith
, at any moment now.

With a Brazilian Supreme Court ruling on the custody of a 9-year-old New Jersey boy imminent, the boy’s father, David Goldman, maintained an agonizing vigil in Rio de Janeiro while a legal adviser to the boy’s Brazilian family filed a new appeal and denied a published report that the family had offered a deal to Goldman.

In Brazil Tuesday afternoon, NBC’s Jeff Rossen spoke with a lawyer for the Brazilian family who have waged a five-year legal battle for custody of Sean Goldman. Asked if he would comply if Brazil’s supreme court ruled that Sean be immediately returned to the U.S., attorney Sergio Tostes said: “I will read the decision and decide our next move.

“At the end of the line, if the final decision was to return the boy, we would,” Tostes added. “But we are far from the end of the line.” He confirmed that filed a new appeal today, trying to overturn the federal appeals court decision to return Sean.

Tostes also told Rossen that Sean is in Rio de Janeiro with his Brazilian family right now, and accused David Goldman and Rep. Chris Smith, the New Jersey congressman who accompanied the New Jersey dad to Rio for the latest chapter in his five-year custody battle, of trying to turn it into a political issue, which Tostes called a “very serious mistake.”

Deal or no deal?
Tostes’ remarks were the latest developments in a dramatic day in Goldman’s long ordeal, one that seemed to begin with the hope of a happy conclusion before Christmas. According to NBC correspondent Benita Noel in Rio, a reputable Brazilian newspaper reported Tuesday that the maternal grandmother of Sean Goldman, Silvana Bianchi, was willing to turn Sean over to his dad, David Goldman, if she could accompany the boy on the plane back to New Jersey. But a release from attorney Tostes said that the reported offer of a deal “derives from misunderstanding” and was “unfounded.”

“At this stage, the family is not considering anything other than waiting for the decision by the Chief Justice,” the release from Tostes read in part. “Any information that the family lawyers have recommended that, in case the Writ should be granted and in the off possibility no further remedies exists, Ms. Silvana Bianchi traveled to the United States with Sean, derives from misunderstanding and is, therefore, unfounded.”

Waiting anxiously in Rio for the expected Supreme Court ruling, David Goldman told TODAY’s Meredith Vieira Tuesday that Sean’s Brazilian family made the suggested offer through a newspaper and did not contact either him or his attorney. When Vieira asked him if he would agree to let the grandmother accompany Sean, Goldman said, “We have to see the exact parameters. I can’t speculate on something that is hypothetical.”

Goldman was accompanied by Rep. Smith, who has been closely following the custody case that has become an international controversy involving the presidents of both the United States and Brazil.

Smith said the credibility of the Brazilian courts is at stake. After years of delays in lower courts, the direct intervention of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama helped move the case into the Brazilian federal courts early this year. There, two rulings sided strongly with Goldman’s parental rights and international law under the Hague Treaty. That law upholds the rights of natural parents in such cases.

A Brazilian appellate court ruled unanimously last week that Sean should be handed over to his father immediately, but a single Supreme Court justice blocked the handover, suggesting that Sean’s wishes be taken into consideration.

Although the Supreme Court has adjourned until February for the holidays, the Chief Justice was to rule Tuesday on whether to order Sean turned over to his father immediately.

Timeline: Brazil custody battleAn official at the Supreme Court said the ruling by Chief Justice Gilmar Mendes, which had been expected Monday, would be made Tuesday.

The official, who agreed to discuss the matter only if not quoted by name because she was not authorized to discuss the case, gave no reason for the delay.

The wait was agonizing for David Goldman, who has pledged to fight for his son Sean as long as it takes.

“I remain hopeful and I pray that this will come to an end,” Goldman said on TODAY Monday.

Cautious optimismMendes will rule on appeals made by Goldman and Brazil’s attorney general seeking to lift a stay on a lower court’s order that Sean be handed over to his father.

If Mendes lifts the stay, lawyers in both camps said Sean’s Brazilian relatives could still appeal to the nation’s highest appeals court — but it was questionable whether that court would be willing to review the case if the Supreme Court backs a lower federal court ruling awarding custody to Goldman.

Felipe Dana
/
AP

David Goldman arrives at Rio de Janeiro's airport, only to be disappointed when Brazil’s top court injected another delay into his five-year battle for custody of his son.

New Jersey Rep. Chris Smith, in Brazil to support Goldman, expressed optimism ahead of the ruling.

“I think it is only a matter of ‘when’ and not ‘if,’ and we are hoping that the abductors will convey this young boy ... as soon as the chief justice renders his decision,” the congressman said.

Goldman, 42, launched his case in U.S. and Brazilian courts after Sean was brought by his mother in 2004 to her native Brazil, where she then divorced Goldman and remarried. She died last year in childbirth, and the boy has lived with his stepfather since.

The lawyer for the boy’s Brazilian family offered to negotiate a settlement, and the family also invited Goldman to spend Christmas with them. Goldman did not say whether he would accept the invitation if the case was not resolved this week.

Asked if Sean’s Brazilian family would be able to visit the boy, Goldman said yes. “I will not do to them what they’ve done to Sean and me,” he said.

Senator blocks trade dealThe case has affected diplomatic ties between Brazil and the U.S., reaching talks between President Barack Obama and his Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. A U.S. senator, reacting to the case, has blocked the renewal of a $2.75 billion trade deal that would lift tariffs on some Brazilian exports.

TODAY

In happier times: David Goldman with his son, Sean, and his late wife Bruna. The New Jersey father has waged a five-year battle to regain custody of his son from a family in Brazil.

The U.S. State Department pressed for the boy to be returned. But a Brazilian Supreme Court justice on Thursday stayed a lower court decision ordering Sean to be turned over to his father.

Goldman and Brazil’s attorney general both filed appeals Friday asking the Supreme Court to overturn the justice’s decision to block Sean’s return while the court considers hearing direct testimony from the boy.

The Brazilian family’s lawyer, Sergio Tostes, told the AP he would like to see a negotiated settlement, saying he wanted to end the damage being done to Sean and to U.S.-Brazil relations.

“We’re raising the white flag and saying: ‘Let’s get together, let’s talk. We’re the adults, we have responsibilities, so let’s start to have a constructive conversation,’ ” Tostes said.